


Don't Make Me Believe

by scarfy36



Series: Inspired by Charlene Kaye's 'Animal Love' [5]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Gen, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-18
Updated: 2015-01-18
Packaged: 2018-03-08 02:00:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3191294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarfy36/pseuds/scarfy36
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where your soulmate's name appears on your body one letter at a time, both Ian and Mickey are keeping theirs covered.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Make Me Believe

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing a soulmate AU for Shameless a year and a half ago but I never continued it, so I thought I’d at least share the start that I’ve got so far. In this, everyone’s soulmate’s name appears somewhere on their body one letter at a time, beginning when they’re 12 and finishing when they’re 18.

Mickey remembers the excitement of his twelfth birthday. He knew they couldn’t afford any decent presents, but that year he was going to get the same thing as every other 12 year old – his first Letter.

He remembers the near-sleeplessness he felt the night before his birthday and the anticipation he felt waiting for the mark to appear. He knew the letter wouldn’t be able to tell him much yet, but he was excited to find out where the mark would be on his body. Joey’s mark was on his forearm – the name belonging to some girl none of them knew yet – and Iggy’s was on his ankle.

Mickey remembers feeling a slight burning on his left butt cheek, and after checking to see if he had sat on a cigarette butt, he realised that that was where his mark would be.

He remembers racing to the big bathroom mirror, wiping a smudge of grime off it and pulling his pants down far enough to see the small Letter in the reflection. It was a horribly awkward angle to try to read the Letter off his bare ass cheek, but from what he could tell it was an “ _I”_.

He remembers a year and a half later staring at the same mirror and trying to convince himself that that the new letters were going to form a girl’s name. The start of “ _Ian_ ” could be a lowercase “L” and it could end up being Lana, couldn’t it?

When a capital “ _G_ ” was the next Letter to appear six months later, Mickey knew for sure that he was gay. He was extremely thankful his Mark was somewhere easy to hide – if anyone found out he had a boy’s name on his ass he knew he wouldn’t live long enough to meet his soulmate.

***

Ian remembers being excited to get his first Letter. Lip had gotten his first one a year before, a small letter “ _K_ ” on the inside of his upper arm, and Ian couldn’t wait to see where his would be. He tossed and turned all night before his birthday – too excited to sleep.

He remembers that when morning finally arrived, he had run into the bathroom to see if he had his first Letter yet. He had stood in front of the mirror searching his skin until Lip reminded him that he was born in the afternoon so it wouldn’t appear for a few more hours.

Fiona had made his favourite snacks for when he got home from school but he was too anxious to sit still for too long. Finally, he had felt the slight burning sensation on his left shoulder and knew he had gotten his first letter.

Ian remembers running upstairs to the bathroom, grinning like an idiot when he saw the letter “ _M_ ” just below his left clavicle.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think I'll ever finish this but if you're curious to see how the rest would have gone, this was my plot outline when I started:  
> • Mickey has "Ian Gallagher" on his left butt cheek  
> • Ian has "Mickey Milkovich" just below his left clavicle (but so that he can still wear a tank top to cover it)  
> • Fiona has Jimmy’s name on her right hipbone (but as it’s set in Season 1 she doesn’t know it’s Steve), Jimmy/Steve has Fiona’s name on the arch of his right foot and she hasn’t seen it  
> • Set at some point in S1  
> • Everyone gets the first letter of their soulmate’s name when they’re 12, they get a couple of more letters each year until they get the last letter just before they’re 18  
> • Mickey remembers being 13 staring at his ass in the mirror and hoping the Ian on his butt cheek was a lowercase “L” for Lana but knowing deep down that it wasn’t  
> • Debbie is getting her first letter(s)  
> • Ian has “Mickey Milk” and doesn’t tell Mandy she thinks it’s her brother  
> • Ian feels weird about Mickey’s shoplifting from the Kash n Grab  
> • Ian still confronts Mickey about stealing the gun and it’s Mickey seeing his own name on Ian’s shoulder that makes him stop beating him up and start tearing his clothes off him


End file.
